The Best Hot Chicken in the Southern Hemisphere Is Now Available in America

After introducing Australia to the wonders of hot chicken with his restaurant Belles Hot Chicken, chef Morgan McGlone is giving New Yorkers a taste of his unique take on the Nashville classic.

Courtesy of Belles Hot Chicken

Starting today, two items are now available at Chefs Club Counter from McGlone’s super popular hot chicken spot: the Belles Hot Chicken Sandwich and his signature wings. Both options are finished with McGlone’s dark and fragrant chicken fat masala, which he uses to baste the birds after cooking them, lending a complex flavor beneath the burn of the cayenne. Additionally, to celebrate today's launch, Chefs Club Counter is offering free sandwiches from 12:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m and free wings from 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.

The Belles Hot Chicken Sandwich is topped with shredded lettuce, shaved onion, cheese and good good sauce, which McGlone was nice enough not to keep secret from us: It's a mix of mayonnaise, mustard, ketchup, onion and garlic powders, peppercorn vinegar, dill pickles and jalapeños. The wings are served with Old Bay fries, southern-style coleslaw and McGlone’s Mississippi comeback sauce, made with mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, onion and garlic powder, smoked paprika, cayenne, Crystal hot sauce and black and white pepper.

Courtesy of Belles Hot Chicken

The New Zealand-born McGlone spent three and a half years working for chef Sean Brock, first as a line cook at Husk Charleston and then as the chef de cuisine at Husk Nashville, which is where he first encountered hot chicken. While it might seem like a strange decision to leave one of America's most innovative restaurants to open a casual fried chicken spot, it made perfect sense to McGlone. “I always loved fried chicken, but I thought Nashville hot chicken had the added spice that everyone likes,” he says. “When I went back to Australia, I decided I didn’t want to do fine dining and instead I just wanted to open up chicken shacks.”

Belles Hot Chicken currently has six locations open in Sydney and Melbourne, with three more on the way, including their first location in New Zealand. But this will be your only chance to get McGlone's chicken stateside.